Janine Beckie and Valor Christian are rising — but where do they land in our predicted 3A playoff field? (Diego James Robles, The Denver Post)

The girls soccer regular season comes to a close tonight. Baseball ends tomorrow. Girls lacrosse is over on Monday.

The postseason machine will officially get a kick-start tonight when the first round of the boys lacrosse tournament begins.

In that spirit and because, personally, I love what-if scenarios (even when my contrived scenarios or predictions are blatantly wrong) let’s predict the playoff fields for girls soccer:[sidenote][sidenote 2]

Girls soccer:

The field will be determined by a committee at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Class 3A, 4A and 5A each qualify 32 teams.

Possible top eight selections, by class:

5A

1. Cherry Creek. Turned away every challenge throw its way this season.
2. Fairview. Found its stride at the right time, winning nine in a row.
3. Pine Creek. Only losses are to Arapahoe and 4A-best Lewis-Palmer.
4. Air Academy. Played tough teams tough: 1-0 losses to Pine Creek and Arapahoe.
5. Smoky Hill. Playing great soccer against great teams.
6. Arapahoe. One of the state’s best teams, but late-season slide drops them.
7. Mountain Vista. Big win over Ponderosa April 27 secures this spot.
8. Rocky Mountain. Playing well and beating the teams they need to down the stretch.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.